Yanmar Compact Equipment North America Fills President and Director Roles
Yanmar Compact Equipment North America, encompassing the Yanmar Compact Equipment and ASV Holdings Inc. brands, has named Tate Johnson as president, Lee Thole as director of aftermarket and David Gannon as director of channel development.
Johnson joined the organization as commercial director in September 2020, overseeing sales, national accounts, channel development and marketing. He brought extensive leadership experience with deep technical, channel development and business leadership expertise within the commercial industry. As president, Johnson will lead and further develop the growth initiatives for the company as the two brands progress in a joint vision of Yanmar Compact Equipment North America.
“We have assembled a strong team committed to the ASV and Yanmar brands and focused on serving all of our stakeholders,” said Johnson. “This group of leaders will continue to drive the business and achieve excellent results for our customers, dealers and employees,” Johnson said. “As we continue to grow, we will seek to provide even more resources and support to our dealers and in turn, the end user customers. The addition of Lee and David is the logical next step.”
Thole brings more than 20 years of experience, with a strong background in parts, service, and overall business operations. Thole’s responsibilities as director of aftermarket will include strengthening several post-sales support functions as well as leading further development and implementation of the aftermarket strategy.
Gannon joins his role with 30 years of multi-industry experience. His position as director of channel development will involve working closely with the dealer network, both by recruiting dealers and assisting existing dealers to be successful.
Yanmar Compact Equipment North America, based in Grand Rapids, Minn., encompasses Yanmar Compact Equipment division’s compact excavators, tracked carriers and wheel loaders and ASV’s Posi-Track compact track loaders. Yanmar Compact Equipment North America is a part of Osaka, Japan-based Yanmar Co. Ltd which was established in 1912, and in 1933 became the world's first manufacturer to develop a practical small diesel engine.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.